Crosscurrents: May 24, 2012

Child health advocates await Supreme Court decision; Bay Area organization gets readers across the country up to speed; an exhibit honors pop music medium of yesteryear; and local cellist Robert Howard.

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New methods of music delivery seem to appear about every month. Once the new one is in place, the old one is quickly forgotten. This was as true in the pre-electronic days as it is now, which is part of the reason the Society of California Pioneers in San Francisco is showcasing the nearly forgotten but all-time champion in home music delivery: sheet music.

Today whole rooms are devoted to home entertainment, but in this earlier time, “the high point of entertainment would be gathering around the parlor piano and singing,” says exhibit curator James M. Keller.

Societies around the world recognize child literacy and elementary education as human rights. It’s actually guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 24 of that Convention also guarantees the following:

“States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.”

This week, the California Department of Education gave us some grim news: according to its biannual report on the financial health of the state’s school systems, nearly one-fifth of school districts in the state face bankruptcy, and that includes six Bay Area districts – four in Santa Clara County and two in San Mateo County.